USDA encourages Meatless Mondays

DEFINITION

ag·ri·cul·ture/ˈagriˌkəlCHər/

Noun:

The science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals

husbandry - farming - agronomy - tillage

Suggesting that people use less meat is supporting agriculture. The crop side which is just as important. Not to mention water and forestry. A suggestion is just a suggestion and you can take it or leave it. And it was just a suggestion to cut back not to cut out. No one can stop you from eating as much meat as you can afford. The question is whether the amount of of meat is worth the cost.

raising of beef does support crops. what do you think they eat in the dry lot? and the farmers who grow it.

interesting read
http://www.usda.gov/documents/Results-Research.pdf

__________________
He who thinks he knows, doesn't. He who knows he doesn't know, knows.~ Joseph Campbell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeMrK...AE7062ADE5A19C

Ugh. Who wants lot fed beef? NASTY. Have you seen the conditions they live in??

__________________
Alice
* * *
"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

yes but their eating of "fatten up" grain helps grain farms. = ag farmers.
while i choose not to buy and eat it, it doesn't mean that they should be undermined by the U.S Department of Agriculture and during a drought no less

__________________
He who thinks he knows, doesn't. He who knows he doesn't know, knows.~ Joseph Campbell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeMrK...AE7062ADE5A19C

Yes grain is sold to feed lots but it would have even more value on the international market especially since so much of the world depends on grain and not meat and crop failures around the world have been increasing in intensity over the past few years.

How are they undermined? If the market in the US slows down then there is the entire Asian market opening up. Beef and pork and chicken are so much in demand that Chinese companies are buying mass production and processing units in North America and Europe. In fact the problem is that exports will pay so much more for meat that it will be beyond the price of Americans. And it is never a bad idea to get used to different foods.

not all grain/corn (feed corn) that is grown can be use as human food. many country will not use GMO
cattle can eat grain that would be harmful even deadly to things with a signal stomachs

__________________
He who thinks he knows, doesn't. He who knows he doesn't know, knows.~ Joseph Campbell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeMrK...AE7062ADE5A19C

more
Sen. Jerry Moran speaks out against the USDA's promotion of "Meatless Mondays"

USDA Ad Saying Food Stamps Will Help You Look and Feel Good ???

(don't get me wrong I am not against FS but it seems to encourage their uses and thus getting the sheep to becomes dependent.)

__________________
He who thinks he knows, doesn't. He who knows he doesn't know, knows.~ Joseph Campbell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeMrK...AE7062ADE5A19C

But even cattle will not eat gmo corn if given a choice. Seems cows are lots smarter than humans (at least the humans in this country) in that regard.

Maybe after a few more years of drought in the heartland, we won't have to debate these frivolous details any longer.

__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Bullspit! Our cattle have pasture, usually - this year they are already on hay because of the drought. We OFFER them a little "all stock" feed every evening, as a gentling treat and to muster them for a daily inspection. It is the cheapo brand from the feed store, I am quite certain the cracked corn it contains is GMO. We OFFER it, they have plenty to eat, salt, minerals, etc., so their nutritional needs are met without it. But it might as well be crack, the way they love it. Now, maybe you have seen a study where cattle were offered GMO and non-GMO side by side and they showed a preference?? But any insinuation that they somehow instinctively avoid the GMO is bullspit and horse puckey all rolled into one.

__________________
It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with the simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.
Laura Ingalls Wilder

Yes, when offered op corn or gm corn side by side they always pick op.

cliff, I offered gmo corn and nongmo wheat they will eat the corn. If offered a carmelized heated big round bale and a good bale, they will eat the carmelized bale to the dirt first. offer a horse sugar cubes or grass hay guess which they will eat first. Animals are like people they like what they like even if it is not the most nutrious.

Apples and oranges. Offer gmo corn and non gmo corn. All things being equal they will pick non gmo.

Rather a moot point anyway, since cows shouldn't be eating corn in the first place.

I guess we should just let the dairy girls waste away and die because it is somehow morally wrong for them to eat grain? And those weanling heifers that could use a boost from some grain to keep up their growth and be ready to breed, give birth and raise their first calf, well let's just let them be stunted and if they die trying to calve at least we can say we did the right thing?? And those orphan calves and other bottle calves, you folks just have to keep feeding them that expensive milk replacer for many months because it is a sin to give them grain??? And this year with the drought, I guess we should just say, sorry, we have no grass or hay, but it's wrong to feed grain so all you cows can just starve?? I mean really where do you get these ideas? It just isn't as black and white as you seem to want to believe.

Some people truly like grass fed beef that is as lean as venison, others prefer it "finished" to have some marbling and enough fat to make the ground beef juicy, but that is a tall order to get done on all forage especially given the short season for peak grazing in most places. The most effective and consistent way to finish a beef and have it year-round is with some grain. Here in the US it is corn, up in Canada it seems to be barley, I'm sure somewhere they are finishing cattle on quinoa or some such. I have had beef that was fed out with kelp as a big part of the rations. It was delicious, but was that wrong too???

__________________
It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with the simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.
Laura Ingalls Wilder

DUH! What do you think they do with our grain? The large majority of it is fed to their livestock.

I think what he means isn't the morality of feeding corn to cattle, but rather the physiology.

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

We haven't had beef for months. Chicken for a couple months. Fish once last month that I found in the back of the now mostly empty freezer lol.

I'm thinking we may get some beef this weekend.

We mostly eat eggs and beans and nuts to get protein. Though I did get some beaver last month and have some still in the freezer.

__________________
It's not that I don't like mankind, I just like nature a whole lot more.

Well, I thought this was about meatless, not beefless. We raise chickens and our main meat consumption is chicken. However, IMO nothing beats a well marbled steak, cooked medium rare over a wood fire. Add a baked potato and a salad and I'm in dietary heaven.

__________________
http://sonshine-littlebitofsonshine.blogspot.com/

Christian Homesteaders Forum
http://christianhomesteader.forumotion.net/

Your last point - cattle do well using grasses, crop wastes, grain milling wastes to produce meat from stuff we don't care to eat. Sorta as you said - cattle can produce food from resources that we huans would not directly be able to eat ourselves. I understand we use a lot of cheap grain because it's so cheap - even today - but meat production can be a very efficent use of resources in producing food.

The trouble is this is not the poicy of the USDA, nor should it be a part of the USDA The United States Department of Agriculture should be dealing with farm issues. USDH could address this topic.

There is one person in the computer section of USDA that has repeatedly sabotaged and done her own thing on the USDA's web site. _That_ is what this is about.

This is _not_ a policy of the USDA, nor something the USDA has discussed or formed a policy about.

It is one mole doing her own sabatoge, putting her own beliefs on a govt run web site.

Weather the info is right or wrong, it does _not_ belong there.

--->Paul